Not enough at the end, but the Twins had a great 2015

It's over. The book has closed on the 2015 season for the Minnesota Twins. What a ride it was.

Coming into the last week of the season, the Twins had seven games left. Many thought they needed five or six wins to capture the second AL wild card spot, or even just to tie either the Astros or Angels. The Twins ended up with three wins, all in Cleveland and the last one was a comeback victory in the late innings.

Torii Hunter and the Twins addressing fans Sunday.

They came home still in it, ready for three final games against the AL Central Division Champion Kansas City Royals. The Twins were swept, with Friday's loss putting them two games back in the race and Saturday's loss mathematically eliminating them from playoff contention. They scored just one run in each of these three games and overall had trouble at the plate.

The hitting slump started in Cleveland. It was just a struggle to get any hits at all, let alone clutch hits or string together a nice rally. At the end of the season in the playoff hunt, that's a bad time to have the bats go cold.

The final countdown
Friday, the game was tied 1-1 in the 8th before Glen Perkins came in and gave up the lead. Perkins has admitted his second half this year was not a good one, after his stellar performance in the first half. But no matter how the opponent runs came across the plate last week, the Twins hitters didn't do enough. I mean, when Perk gave up those runs, the Twins had just two hits on the board. That's not going to get it done.

Meanwhile, the Angels and Astros (who eventually won the second wild card spot) both won this weekend. In fact, the Astros beat up on the Arizona Diamondbacks 21-5 Friday. That seems like a pretty good statement that their team is ready for a postseason run.

Glass half full, or glass half empty
Now, there are two ways to look at this season for the Twins. There are all the comments that the Twins exceeded expectations in 2015. They were supposed to lose another 90 games, not finish 83-79. They weren't supposed to be anywhere near a playoff race, so this season has just been all gravy, with extra mashed potatoes.

People don't want to beat up on the Twins for how their season ended, because look at all the positives and everything they accomplished. The steps forward. The great rookie performances.

These things are all true, and I'm not one to disagree with these comments. Who would have thought they'd still be in contention in game 161?

Things change, and that's OK
Still, that doesn't mean fans can't analyze how the Twins fell short of reaching the postseason. However it happened, the fact is they were in a position to contend for the playoffs. And even though expectations were very low at the start of the season, that doesn't mean expectations can't change either.

This was a team that rattled off 20 wins in the month of May, after all. It was the summer of resiliency for a team that would not quit and would not fade away. When races come down to the wire in a 162-game season, it's easy to magnify every game in September. Though it's also a good reminder of the cliche that every game counts. If you think a close 4-3 loss in April or a 12-0 blowout in June doesn't matter, it's simply not true. Every loss is still a loss.

But if you want to know what I'll point to when I think back to why the Twins didn't get it done, just look at their 4-6 second-to-last homestand in September. The Twins just didn't do enough. The Astros struggled during this week, too, so it would have been a good time to gain ground.

The Twins lost two of three to the abysmal Tigers. Then they lost three of four to the Angels, including blowing an early six-run lead and dropping a doubleheader. The homestand included two, 12-inning losses and a five-game losing streak. That stretch was not good enough for a team trying to make the playoffs, and it came back to haunt them.

All that aside, it really was a great season. I'm not as disappointed as I would be if they underachieved and missed the playoffs. Sure, of course it's always tough when your team's season ends, whenever that is, but there is so much to look forward to in 2016 and the years to come.

I'm excited to see where the Twins go from here.